Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase the number of staff in HMRC with information technology skills as a result of the introduction of the Customs Declaration Service system and the extension of existing Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight systems.

HMRC is on track to deliver the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) programme which will provide a more flexible customs declaration system to meet future needs.

The majority of resources needed are already in place for the introduction of the CDS and for the extension of the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF). HMRC are – and will continue to – resource and reprioritise as appropriate.

HMRC will be migrating customers from the current CHIEF system to CDS between August 2018 and January 2019, when CDS is due to be fully implemented.